Car Failed After Service - Suggestions Please

somech

with regards to the AA/RAC (a field i have extensive knowledge in ) don't rely on there "expert" diagnosis the recruitment process of the AA in the south west is shocking i have seen first hand several patrols diagnosis to be so wide of the mark its embarrasing to the ponit one of them diagonesed a broken cam belt when all it needed was a spark plug (misfiring)!! always worth getting a second opinion from a garage.
i doubt the lack of power in your focus is spark plug related if they cant remove it i would imagine its cross threaded. be civil and polite with the dealer and phone them every day for an update they'll soon get fed up and prioritise your car.

custardy

somech wrote: »

with regards to the AA/RAC (a field i have extensive knowledge in ) don't rely on there "expert" diagnosis the recruitment process of the AA in the south west is shocking i have seen first hand several patrols diagnosis to be so wide of the mark its embarrasing to the ponit one of them diagonesed a broken cam belt when all it needed was a spark plug (misfiring)!! always worth getting a second opinion from a garage.
i doubt the lack of power in your focus is spark plug related if they cant remove it i would imagine its cross threaded. be civil and polite with the dealer and phone them every day for an update they'll soon get fed up and prioritise your car.

as a youngster i had a broken cambelt diagnosed as a broken rotor arm on my Mk2 1.6 cavalier (yes im old)
however i wouldn't tar all breakdown guys as the same
only that you should never take a roadside diagnosis as gospel

Hammyman

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I would put the AA mans diagnosis above that of any dealer. They have to be capable working on hteir own and on any variety of car, unlike the monkeys at larger garages that simply do as the foreman tells them, but not allways well

BWAHAHA. As someone who has worked in a garage that the AA towed cars they apparently couldn't fix, I'd say many were far from competent.

johnnyroper

Hammyman wrote: »

BWAHAHA. As someone who has worked in a garage that the AA towed cars they apparently couldn't fix, I'd say many were far from competent.

agreed the fact they work on their own is irrelevant,basically they were not good enough to work in a garage so went out on the road.
anything more than flat tyre,run out of fuel or locked out then they are only good for dragging the car back to the garage,some of them cannot even do that i remember when i was at vaux someones pride and joy Lotus carlton had the front bumper damaged because AA man insisted it would go on the low loader no problem.needless to say it did not.

the fact one of the plugs will not come out does not mean it is causing the fault although they do need to address the issue,it could be any number of things.is it possible fault was present before the service,what i mean by that is when was last time you went on motorway or needed to go over 40mph prior to after service?
keep on at the garage insisting you need car repaired to a satisfactory standard ASAP and at no cost to yourself,also until then you require a courtesy car of equivelent size.

opinions4u

johnnyroper wrote: »

agreed the fact they work on their own is irrelevant,basically they were not good enough to work in a garage so went out on the road.
anything more than flat tyre,run out of fuel or locked out then they are only good for dragging the car back to the garage,some of them cannot even do that i remember when i was at vaux someones pride and joy Lotus carlton had the front bumper damaged because AA man insisted it would go on the low loader no problem.needless to say it did not.

the fact one of the plugs will not come out does not mean it is causing the fault although they do need to address the issue,it could be any number of things.is it possible fault was present before the service,what i mean by that is when was last time you went on motorway or needed to go over 40mph prior to after service?
keep on at the garage insisting you need car repaired to a satisfactory standard ASAP and at no cost to yourself,also until then you require a courtesy car of equivelent size.

Cheers. It usually gets on the motorway every day. Never had a problem with this car.

molerat

Does that model have a Duratec or Zetec engine ?

opinions4u

molerat wrote: »

Does that model have a Duratec or Zetec engine ?

Duratec (I think!).

Kilty_2

opinions4u wrote: »

Any suggestions on the reasonability of requesting a larger courtesy car?

Worked for me, I currently have a courtesy Xsara Picasso (:rotfl:) because I need to make a long journey with passengers and luggage tomorrow.

cyclonebri1

Hammyman wrote: »

BWAHAHA. As someone who has worked in a garage that the AA towed cars they apparently couldn't fix, I'd say many were far from competent.

Hammy the fact that you worked in any garage would confirm what I said.

cyclonebri1

johnnyroper wrote: »

agreed the fact they work on their own is irrelevant,basically they were not good enough to work in a garage so went out on the road.
anything more than flat tyre,run out of fuel or locked out then they are only good for dragging the car back to the garage,some of them cannot even do that i remember when i was at vaux someones pride and joy Lotus carlton had the front bumper damaged because AA man insisted it would go on the low loader no problem.needless to say it did not.

the fact one of the plugs will not come out does not mean it is causing the fault although they do need to address the issue,it could be any number of things.is it possible fault was present before the service,what i mean by that is when was last time you went on motorway or needed to go over 40mph prior to after service?
keep on at the garage insisting you need car repaired to a satisfactory standard ASAP and at no cost to yourself,also until then you require a courtesy car of equivelent size.

You just couldn't be more wrong.

Take any nerd from a fixmequix outfit and see how many cars he gets going on the hard shoulder??? Yeah?.

The AA/RAC only fix cars that can be diagnosed and fixed economically at the roadside, at least they know the difference and maybe just have enough consience not to rip off all who enter their premises.